Tuesday, March 13, 2018 1:00 am

State's job outlook strong

Survey finds 26% of Indiana employers looking to add staff

SHERRY SLATER | The Journal Gazette

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey lists the large cities with the strongest and weakest hiring outlooks for the second quarter:

Strongest

• Provo, Utah

• San Antonio

• Madison, Wis.

• Columbia, S.C.

• Seattle

• Syracuse, N.Y.

Weakest

• Hartford, Conn.

• Youngstown, Ohio

• Allentown, Pa.

• New Haven, Conn.

• San Francisco

• Tucson, Ariz.

Indiana employers expect to hire at what ManpowerGroup describes as “a confident pace” in April, May and June, according to survey results released today.

The Hoosier State's net employment outlook is 23 percent. Net employment is determined by subtracting those who expect to reduce staff from those who plan to increase it.

The survey found 26 percent of Indiana respondents plan to increase staff; 3 percent plan to decrease; and 71 percent expect to maintain current workforce levels.

Indiana's second-quarter hiring outlook is stronger than the national net employment rate of 20 percent, according to ManpowerGroup data.

Of the more than 11,500 U.S. employers who participated in the survey, 23 percent plan to hire; 3 percent plan to reduce staff; 73 percent expect to maintain current workforce levels; and 1 percent don't know.

Employers surveyed in each of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan statistic areas expect to hire next quarter, reflecting the growing economy. U.S. employers added 313,000 jobs in February, the most in any month since July 2016.

Both state and national hiring outlook numbers are stronger than the current quarter, when a net of 15 percent of Indiana employers planned to hire and 19 percent of U.S. employers expected to add jobs.

Indiana's expected hiring rate is more than twice what it was for the same three months of 2017, when the state showed a 10 percent net employment outlook.

On the regional level, 20 percent of Midwest employers expect to hire more workers for the second quarter, the strongest labor market for the region since 2001.

The results from Indianapolis employers show a 23 percent net employment outlook, a dramatic increase from the 13 percent reported for this quarter.

Steve Stokes, Manpower's northeast Indiana area manager, said the local employment office is seeing strong demand for general manufacturing positions, especially in automotive plants.

The factories are trying to fill general labor and machine operator jobs for the long term.

“I have quite a few temp-to-hire positions open right now,” he said.

Local openings include customer service jobs in call centers, Stokes said.

Manpower's national survey results found employers in every industry sector planning to hire, with leisure and hospitality; professional and business services; and wholesale and retail trade reporting the strongest demand.